Glove knitting apparatus



July 4, 1961 M BIALQSTOK 2,990,703

GLOVE KNITTING APPARATUS Filed May 28, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 4, 1961 M. BIALosToK 2,990,703

GLOVE KNITTING APPARATUS Filed May 28, 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 July 4, 1961 M. BIALosToK 2,990,703

GLOVE K NITTING APPARATUS Filed May 28, 195e 5 sheets-sheet s l l f i g "un "wu "HH "HHB I I-l .I Il 1l 1 INVENTOR.

July 4, 1961 M. BIALosToK 2,990,703

GLOVE KNITTING APPARATUS July 4, 1961 M. BMLOSTOK 2,990,703

GLOVE KNITTING APPARATUS Filed May 28. 1956 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent O GLOVE KNI'ITING APPARATUS Max Bialostok, 712 Neck Road, New York, N.Y. Filed May 28, 1956, Ser. No. 587,716 4 Claims. (Cl. 66'87) This invention relates to knitting apparatus and, more particularly, t apparatus lused to control the operation of latch needle warp knitting machines so as to produce a knitted garment with a minimum of operations.

As is generally known by those skilled in the art, Raschel type, latch needle, warp knitting machines are provided with two needle beds and multiple guide bars. When both needle beds are used at the same time, warp knitted, rib, fabrics may be produced, as well as double-faced structures which are suitable for -all types of outer wear and dress goods, sin-ce such can be knitted in the form of a tube. By varying the movements of the needle beds and guide bars, a great number of various designs and stitches can be produced in the fabric so as to particularly adapt the fabric for specific purposes. An object of this invention, therefore, is to provide novel controls and apparatus for use with latch needle warp knitting machines that are simple in construction, eicient in operation, and which may be used to produce fabrics of novel utility.

Another object of this invention is to provide a series of related control elements for directing the cyclic operation of latch needle warp knitting machines to produce a fabric in which the tautness of each course ofy stitches may be automatically varied.

A further object of this invention is to provide apparatus for automatically controlling the operation of latch needle warp knitting machines so as to provide a continuously knitted fabric having a predetermined sequence of loosely and tightly knitted courses of stitches.

Still a further object of this invention is to provide apparatus for latch needle type warp knitting machines for automatically knitting a series of blanks for gloves, each blank of which includes a tubular hand portion, rtubular finger portions and a thumb cot receiving opening.

A more specic object of this invention is to provide apparatus for automatically knitting `a continuous series of glove blanks, each of which is constructed of a plurality of courses of stitches of varying tautness so as to readily conform to the hand-shape of the wearer and which has linished tubular nger portions of varied predetermined lengths.

All of the foregoing and still -further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent from a study of the following specilication, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an exploded view, in perspective, of related sub-assemblies of a machine made in accordance with this invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded view in perspective, and partly in section, elements of the yarn guide bar, lateral shifting, actuating mechanism.

FIG. 3 is a an exploded view in perspective, and partly in section, showing the relative disposition of certain of the associated elements.

FIG. 4 is a perspective View of the needle bed actuating mechanism. Y

FIG. 5 is a perspective view, showing the associated elements of the yarn guide bar rocking mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of a pattern chain used for automatically controlling certain of the knitting apparatus.'

FIG. 7 is a top elevational view ofthe pattern chain shown in FIG. 6.

F.IG. 8 isan enlargedview showing the engagement of 4.

Il ce 2,990,703

v Y Patented July 4,4 19 61 a follower with a pattern chain that automatically controls the tautness of each course of stitches.

FIG. 9 is a plan View showing a continuously produced series ot knitted glove blanks made in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a plan view showing a single blank severed from the series of blanks shown in FIG. 9.

FIG. l1 is a plan View showing the single blank of FIG. l0 turned right side out, or inverted.

FIG. 12 is a transverse sectional view taken .along the line 12--12 of FIG. l0.

FIG. 13 is a transverse sectional view taken along line 13--13 of FIG. 10.

FIG. 14 is a `diagrammatic perspective view showing the various parts in their assembled, combination, rel-ationship.

Referring now to FIG. 3 of the drawing, the component knitting parts of a two-bed Raschel Wrap knitter are shown to include the iront and back :latch needle beds 20, 21. Each needle bed carries at least one needle lead 2.2 into which la plurality of latch needles 23 are east and which are adapted to be vertically reciprocated through associated tricks 24 of Itrick plates 26, 27 that are iixed relative -to the respective front and back needle beds.

The power for actuating the needle beds, as more clearly shown in IFIG. 5, is supplied by a motor 29 having a driving pulley Wheel 30 that drives a pulley belt which is connected to -a reduction pulley wheel 31 mounted on a rotatable shaft 32. Also lixed to the shaft 32 is a spur gear 33 that is in meshing engagement with an idler gear 35 rotatably carried on an idler shaft 36. The idler gear 35 is in meshing engagement with a spur gear 38 that is keyed to one end of and drives a longitudinal shaft 39 having a pair of identical cams 40, 41 keyed to the opposite end thereof. The cams are disposed on the shaft 39 with their respective high points 180 degrees apart so that Irotatable follower elements 44, 45, respectively, each carried by one end of the levers 46, 47 associated there; with, are adapted to rock the levers about the axis of the pivot shaft 49 to which the opposite ends of the levers are rotatably connected. Each lever 46, 47 pivotally supports a push rod 50, 51, respectively, that is slidably received within and guided by [fixed bearings 52, 53 which bring Ithe pads 5'4, 55 at the upper ends of the rods 50, 51 into operative engagement with 'the back 21 and liront 20 needle beds, respectively, so as to alternately raise and lower the associated .latch needles carried thereby the motion being such that the front and back beds are each raised once -during each longitudinal shaft revolution. A bevel gear 57 is secured to the shaft 39 at the opposite extremity of the shaft on which fthe spur gear 38 Iis secured. This bevel gear 57 is in meshing engagement with a corresponding bevel gear 58 which is secured to and drives a take-oli shaft 59 to automatically advance a series of pattern chains, for the purposes hereinafter described.

The yarn guide bars are disposed above the needle beds 20, 21. As shown in FIG. 3, three guide bars 66a, 66b, 66C, are shown disposed above the front needle bed 20 and three `guide bars 67a, 67b, 67e, are shown disposed above the back needle bed 21. The guide bars are carried by a guide bar bracket (no-t shown) in fixed spaced position and are adapted to carry the yarn guides 70. Each set of yarn guides is spaced identically With the latch needles 23 and are cast in the front leads (72u, 72b, 72e) and the back leads (73a, 7312, 73e) which are secured to the respective guide bars. Each guide bar has, just above the leaded guides, a narrow, horizontal metal plate 74, 75 with lines of holes 76, 77. There is such a hole for each yarn guide so that the yarn 78 passes through these holes before passing through the guides so as to keep the yarn parallel and in proper place.

The yarn guides 70 lact in conjunction with the needles 23 to produce the knitting action. As each set of needles rises to their highest position by the movement of one of the needle beds, 20, 21, the respectiverguide bars 66, '67 swing through the needles from the back to the front. Then the guides move longitudinally either to the right or left for the space of one or more needles and pass through `the needles vagain to the back thereof. The needle beds are then lowered whereby each needle descends and draws its loop. As the guide moves from, across, and back, it passes around one needle and lays a strand of yarn in the hook. The first formed loop is around the shank of the latch needle. When the needle descends, the prior loop closes the latch and is pushed off over the top of the needle by the associated trick plate and, at the same time, pulls the next strand of yarn into a loop through the prior one. In the event that this cycle is carried on with one needle, a single chain would be formed. When two or more needles are used, the chain made by one yarn is looped in with that of another, forming a piece of cloth.

Referring to FIG. of the drawing, the swinging or oscillating motions of the guide bars are shown to be obtained through the longitudinal shaft 39 which has a three-crested cam 80 secured at one end thereof. A lever 81 rotatably fulcrumed at one end on the idler shaft 36 and pivotally secured to one end of a vertical link 82 at its other end, has a follower element 83 intermediate its length in engagement with the cam 80. The opposite end of the vertical link has a transverse actuating shaft 84 secured thereto in slidable engagement with a longitudinal slot 85 of a rocking lever 87. This lever is rigidly connected to a rocking shaft 90 to which the entire guide bar assembly is secured. Rotation of the longitudinal shaft 39 thus sets up a vertical motion in the vertical link 82, that results in a rocking movement of the shaft 90, the movement being such that three such vertical and rocking reciprocations are made during each longitudinal shaft revolution.

Referring to FIG. 2, the separate longitudinal movement or shogging of each of the guide bars to` the right and the left is shown to be effected by means of a push bar 92 having a metal plate 93 fastened to the inner end against which one extremity of the guide bar 66 is held by spring 94 that is secured at one end to the riser 95 of the guide bar and at the other end to a hook 96 on a stationary part of the frame. The upward extremity of the riser 95 has a vertically disposed slot 98 that is adapted to slidably receive a guide pin 99 carried by a guide element 100 that is also fixed to the frame so that the adjustment pin 101 projecting from the end of the guide bar is adapted to rub across the face of the pusher bar plate 93 as the rocking shaft 90 swings the push bar back and forth across the needle beds. The extent of longitudinal movement of each push bar 92 controls the extent of longitudinal movement of the respective guide bar to control the type of knitting stitch.

As is more clearly shown in FIG. l, the longitudinal movement of each push bar 91a, b, c; 92a, b, c is controlled yby a separate pattern chain 5a, b, c; 106a, b, c that is carried by a pattern drum 108 rigidly secured to a rotatable shaft 109. As is well known to those skilled in the art, each pattern chain consists of a series of links 110pivotally secured together. The links may all be of the same size or of various sizes, as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, depending upon the extent of movement of the guide bars desired, which movement determines the number of latch needles, the respective guide needles carried by the guide bars will pass during the longitudinal movement thereof; as the size of the links increases, so will the movement of the respective push bars and guide bars be increased. The return springs 94 exert a pressure through the push bar to insure that the rollers 111 carried by each push bar will follow the exact profile of the links. As the drum 108 is rotated, the-pattern chains are also rotated, whereupon the push bars will control the knitting operation in accordance with the predetermined pattern desired as set up by the arrangement of the various sizes of links of the pattern chain. The intermittent rotation of the drum 108, is effected through a worm wheel 112 that is secured to the end of the shaft 109 and is driven by a cam wheel 113 that has four inclined cams 114 equally spaced around the circumference thereof. As each cam 114 passes through the associated slot of the worm wheel, the drum is rotated a sufficient amount to bring the next succeeding link of each chain into engagement with the roller 111 of the respective push bar to move the associated guide bar. During each complete revolution of the shaft 59, the worm wheel is given four intermittent movements. Thus, as the rollers pass from one link to the next, lateral motion is imparted to the guide bars. The movement of the barrel which takes place four times during each machine cycle and is timed with respect to the swinging motions of the guide bars to take place at exactly the right moments to give the proper underlaps and overlaps. Since the longitudinal shaft 39 provides the power for effecting the rise and fall of the needle beds, the oscillating movement of the guide needle bars and the rotation of the pattern chain drum, the timing in readily coordinated.

The stitch length and the fabric texture may be controlled by setting the fabric take-up mechanism, whereby increasing the rate of fabric ltake-up is adapted to provide a stitch of greater length and fewer courses of stitches per inch of fabric. As shown in FIG. 3, the take-up roll 115 is disposed beneath and in close association with the needle beds 20, 21 and cooperates with a pair of idler rolls 116, 117 to draw the fabric 118 as the yarn is knitted. Referring to FIG. l, the power for driving the take-up roll 115 is received from the rotatable shaft 32 that is driven with the spur gear 33 (see FIG. 5) which is in the gear ltrain of power from the motor 29. The shaft 32 drives an eccentric on which one end of a pull rod 122 is eccentrically pivotally secured. The other end of the rod 122 is adjustably received within the slot 124 to a draw link 125 that is rotatably mounted on one end of la stud shaft 127. The outer end of the draw link 125 has a draw pawl 128 pivotally secured thereto, which is spring biased into engagement with the detents 129 of the ratchet Wheel 130 that is rigidly secured to the outer end of the stud shaft 127. A locking pawl 132, carried by a lock link 133, is pivotally secured to link 133 and is spring :biased into engagement with the detents 129 of the ratchet wheel and, since the link 133 is held in a fixed non-rotatable position relative to the shaft 127, prevents rotation of the ratchet wheel in one direction while permitting rotation in the other direction. It will be recognized, therefore, that as the power shaft 32 is rotated, the eccentrically mounted pull rod reciprocatingly pulls and returns for each rotation of the shaft. As it returns, the draw pawl 128 runs freely over a plurality of detents before coming to rest in engagement with one detent, while the ratchet wheel is held stationary by the locking pawl 132. As the pull rod is pulled back, the pawl `128 draws or rotates the sprocket wheel to the extent of the length of draw travel of the pull rod. The rotation of the sprocket wheel is transmitted through the stud shaft 127 and the spur gear 135 secured at the inner end thereof, to the take-up roll 115 to draw the fabric through the machine. The length of travel of the pull rod may be manually adjusted by adjusting the point of securement thereof with the longitudinal slot 124 of the draw link 125.

An automatic adjustment mechanism is provided to vary the extent of rotation of the ratchet wheel 130 and thus the amount of rotation of the take-up roll 115 for each course of stitches knitted to control the stitch length and fabric texture. An adjustment link 137 is rotatably mounted on the outer end of the stud shaft 127 and has a shoe 13,8 in overlapping and shielding engagement with a certain number of detents 129 of the ratchet wheel. When properly positioned, the shoe is adapted to prevent the engagement of the draw pawl 12S with the detents 129 positioned adjacent to the outward extremity of the return movement thereof, whereby the pawl, on the draw part of its cycle, rides freely over the top of the shoe until it reaches the first detent not covered by the shoe which it engages and draws through the remaining portion of the draw movement. The draw pawl is thus caused to skip several detents whereby the ratchet wheel 130 is rotated only a fraction of the amount which would otherwise result. The position of the shoe 138 is controlled by an indexing ringer |140i that is in the form of a bell-crank pivotally mounted on a iixed shaft 141 adjacent to the ratchet wheel assembly. One end ot the finger is pivotally engaged with one extremity of an extension length 142, the other extremity of which has a pin 143 in -iixed and adjustable position in engagement with one of a series of openings 144 along the length of the adjustment link 137. The other end of the finger 140 is adapted to engage a take-up pattern chain '147 that is carried by a rotatable drum 149 mounted on a fixed shaft 150. The drum is rotated by a pawl 152 that is pivotally secured to one end of a rocker link 153 and spring biased into engagement with the detents of a ratchet wheel 154 secured to one end thereof. A rotatable shaft 155 supports the link 153 -for its rocking movement and the other end of the rocker link is pivotally secured to one extremity of a connecting link 156, the opposite extremity of the connecting link being pivotally secured to the outer end of a second longitudinal rocker link 157. The inner end of the longitudinal rocker link 157 has a Ifollower stud element 159 that is adapted to follow a patterned cam slot 160 in a cam wheel 161 that is rigidly secured to and driven by the take-oli shaft 59, so as to rock the link 157 about its iixed pivot shaft 162. The position of the cam wheel 161, while being adjustable, is set to rook the link y157 four times `for each rotation of the take-olf shaft in sequence with the engagement of the cams 114 with the worm wheel 112 of the push bar control mechanism. Each rocking movement of the shaft is adapted to cause the pawl 152 to rotate the drum 149 suiiciently to move the next subsequent link 148 in the pattern chain 147 into engagement with the index ringer 140 of the adjustment mecham'sm. If the subsequent link is higher than the previous link, it will rock the nger about its shaft to move the shoe 138 to cover additional detents on the ratchet wheel, whereby the take-up roll will rotate to a lesser extent to provide a tighter stitch for the next course of stitches. A locking pawl 165 is pivotally secured at one end and spring biased at its other end into engagement with corresponding detente 166 on the drum 149 to hold the same against rotation between rotating movements of the actuating pawl 152. rIlhe shaft 32 is provided with offset hand-holds l168 to provide for a manual adjustment ofthe pattern chain 147 at any time so as to set the starting point thereof.

Referring no-w to FIGS. 9 through 13, by way of example, a series of glove blanks are shown that are knitted by means ot the present invention. Each blank 170 includes a hand portion 171, nger portions 172, a thumb cot receiving opening 173, and a wrist portion 174. The blanks are knitted in the series shown in FIG. 9 and need only be severed along the parting `line 175 to obtain the separate blanks as shown in FIG. 10. In order to provide a form tit, the various parts of the glove are knitted in zones at different degrees of tightness or looseness. More particularly, as seen in FIG. 9, the finger zone 177 is knitted relatively loosely, the hand portion zone 178 is knitted a bit tighter, the lower wrist portion zone 179 -is more tightly knitted, and the terminal wrist portion zone 180 is knitted very loosely. As a result, the linished glove may be blocked to a form-fitting shape, as` shown in FIG. 1l. This variation of stitch tautness is obtained by arranging the proper size links 148 of the pattern chain 147 associated with the take-up control so as to knit the desired number of respective loose and tight courses. It will be recognized that the apparatus may be arranged to knit various other types of -fonm-tit articles merely by setting up the proper sequence of pattern chain links.

While this invention has been described with particuiar reference to the specific form shown in the drawing, it is to be understood that such is not to be construed as imparting limitations upon the invention, which is best deiined by the claims appended hereto.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. In a latch needle warp knitting machine of the type having a source of operating power and pattern cams mounted upon a pattern cam drum rotated by said power source controlling the knitting of each course of stitches, variable take-up means drivenly connected to said source of operating power for drawing the knitted fabric from the machine at -a variable rate and degree of tension to control the degree of tightness of each course of stitches, said variable take-up means comprising a drive wheel actuating said take-up means, a drive element driven by said source of operating power to eiect intermittent partial rotation of said drive Wheel, motive power means imparting to said drive element a substantially constant repetitions driving motion, index means limiting the magnitude of said driving motion transmitted by said drive element to said drive wheel, and a pattern link chain intermittently driven by said pattern cam drum controlling the setting of said index means for the knitting of each course of stitches.

2. Apparatus las set forth in claim l, wherein said drive wheel comprises a ratchet wheel, and said drive element comprises a pawl for driving said ratchet wheel in a single direction.

3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 2, wherein said motive power means comprises a reciprocating rod, said pawl being supported at one end of said rod for continuous reciprocating movement therewith along a path of iixed length, said limiting means comprising a shield associated with said ratchet wheel 4for preventing the engagement of said pawl with said ratchet wheel during a part of said reciprocating movement of said pawl relative to said ratchet Wheel.

`4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 3, wherein said index means is adapted to prevent said engagement of said pawl with said ratchet wheel to an extent determined by the relative sizes of said pattern chain links.

References Cited in the iile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 15,901 Springthorpe Aug. 26, 1924 1,435,176 Pecker Nov. 14, 192.2 1,605,099 Debs et al. Nov. 2, 1926 2,073,560 Margerison Mar. 9, 1937 2,140,472 Gastrich Dec. 13, 1938 2,185,963 -Lambach Ian. 2, 1940 2,273,802 Miller Feb. 17, 1942 2,604,768 Schuster July 29, 1952 2,664,723 McDonough Jan. 5, 1954 

